dbhost writes: "Along with this morning's cup of coffee and log reviews, I discovered that the KDE team is moving forward with a long awaited beta release of KDE 4.0 beta release of KDE 4.0. The most interesting item I found in this article is that the file manager in KDE is being separated from Konqueror into a component called Dolphin. Also according to the announcement konsole has been treated to a number of improvements such as split view, and history highlighting."

wawannem writes: "So, who said that Tesla Coils weren't practical? Well, add MIDI player to the list of practical applications. Watch this amazing video of a Tesla Coil built by a few college kids that plays music. FTA —

This is a solid-state Tesla coil. The primary runs at its resonant frequency in the 41 KHz range, and is modulated from the control unit in order to generate the tones you hear... it is the actual high voltage sparks that are making the noise. Every cycle of the music is a burst of sparks at 41 KHz, triggered by digital circuitry at the end of a "long" piece of fiber optics."

Posted
by
CowboyNeal
on Thursday July 19, 2007 @07:29PM
from the end-of-the-road dept.

RobertB-DC writes "With no fanfare, and apparently no outcry from the privacy community, Anonymizer Inc. discontinued its web-based Private Surfing service effective June 20, 2007. No reason was given, either on the Anonymizer web site or on founder Lance Cottrell's privacy blog. Private Surfing customers are now required to download a anonymizing client that handles all TCP traffic, but the program is Windows-only (with Vista support still a work-in-progress). And of course it's closed-source, which means it has few advantages over several otheralternatives."

Unwired Guy writes: The IEEE has officially begun work on the 802.16m spec, a 4G technology which will eventually supplant 802.16e-2005 (Mobile WiMAX). 802.16m promises speeds of up to 1Gbit/sec while providing full backwards compatibility with Mobile WiMAX gear. 'Cellular companies are eyeing the proposed new spec as a "convergence" 4G technology that would merge two parallel streams of wireless technology, 3G and 802.16, into a single standard. 802.16m would also enable wireless providers to offer the same breadth of services possible on wired networks, like streaming video, IPTV, and VoIP.'

Milwaukee's_Best writes: Skype has just asked the FCC to force wireless phone companies to open their networks to all comers. "Skype essentially wants to turn the wireless phone companies into just another network of the kind currently operated on the ground. This would require carriers to allow any phone to be used on their networks, and for any application. Users would simply purchase a voice or data plan (though these could easily converge into a data plan if VoIP calling is used) and then use the device of their choice to access the network of their choice." Think of it as network neutrality—for cell networks. Given the competition that exists within the industry, is this needed?

jcatcw writes: Malware authors are taking advantage of RSS and ATOM to distribute code more efficiently. The aggregators simply pull in the content from a source without first checking it. That makes it easy for attackers to inject malicious JavaScript or other code for stealing passwords and data or for remotely controlling computers.

UpnAtom writes: "The Daily Telegraph Business section reports on an Swiss invention that uses a copper indium semiconductor compound to produce electricity."The "tipping point" will arrive when the capital cost of solar power falls below $1 (51p) per watt, roughly the cost of carbon power. We are not there yet. The best options today vary from $3 to $4 per watt — down from $100 in the late 1970s.

Mr Sethi believes his product will cut the cost to 80 cents per watt within five years, and 50 cents in a decade."

So it appears that the RIAA is once again striking fear into the hearts of college students. In an article on CNN http://www.cnn.com/2007/EDUCATION/02/21/downloading.music.ap/index.html, the RIAA details its "Complaint Letters" being sent out to college students, and shows which colleges are being hit the hardest. I personally find it funny that the author continually refers to the RIAA as "complaining".

Zatoichi007 writes: "The NYT is reporting that Wikipedia is now being banned as a source for research at Middlebury College.
It seems that the last straw for the college occured when students in a Japanese history class
wrongly asserted that the Jesuits aided in the Shambara Rebellion, using Wikipedia as the reference point.
Is Wikipedia a valid source for "serious" research or just a starting point to find out what might be interesting about a particular topic?"

An anonymous reader writes: Every blog, forum, or CMS has its own markup language for formatting posts. But when you start to mix and match markups, things go haywire. If you have a web-based platform and are looking to support multiple markup languages for posters/authors to use, then you need to start to use a universal markup storage format in your database to preserve formatting, extend flexibility, and allow users to switch from one markup language to another.

John3 writes: "The Graffiti Research Lab has posted video of laser graffiti they created on a Rotterdam building. The effect is very cool, and a complete guide on how they did it is posted on Theodore Watson's website. All you need is a laptop, LCD projector, and laser and you too can graffiti buildings without any permanent damage (unless you fry the retinas of a curious late night janitor). The GRL site states they are "dedicated to outfitting graffiti artists with open source technologies for urban communication" and there are several other examples of previous high-tech graffiti experiments, including drive-in GIF theater."

BobB writes: "There are many alternatives to the world's most popular search tool, but a newly created Web site called Jyve offers an approach that acts like an online chat room instead of a typical search engine. Jyve users ask questions and receive answers from other users, usually within seconds. It's like a cross between Wikipedia and Ask Jeeves (now known simply as Ask.com). It started as a Skype plug-in.
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/022007-jyve. html"